A youth reportedly died while playing a kabaddi match at a village in the Nuapada district, bordering Chhattisgarh, on Monday. He died just two minutes before the match was about to draw to an end.

Khageswar Rathia, 26, who hails from Chhattisgarh, was rushed to the hospital but could not be saved. The incident took place at Torabada village within Komna police limits, about 500km from here.

Rathia, who was from Dudumachua village of Saraipalli of Mahasamund district in Chhattisgarh, had come to play on behalf of his village team. Nearly 21 teams from Odisha and neighbouring Chhattisgarh participated in the annual kabaddi tournament held during Dussehra.

The tournament is organised by the Taraboda Puja Committee at Torabada village. Rathia’s team had advanced to the final. The final match was between the Hatisara Team of Nuapada and Rathia’s team, Dudumachua.

The Dudumachua team was on the verge of winning the match. On behalf of his team, Rathia led the attack as the raider. However, the defenders of the Hatisara team caught Rathia, who was asked by the umpire to move out of the field.

Furious with the decision, Rathia came out of the field and suddenly fell ill just outside the court. The players immediately rushed him to the hospital where he was declared dead. Following the post-mortem, his body was handed over to his family members.

Inspector in-charge of Komna police station Sumanta Nayak told The Telegraph, “This is a three-day kabaddi tournament. Today was the final match. Khageswar Rathia was playing the final match on behalf of his team.”